Important notes for those who upgrade YouTrack using EXE distribution

Windows services launch from specific user accounts, for example, on Windows XP, services run under user LocalService. When YouTrack is launched as a service, it looks for its issue database in the following locations by default:

On Windows XP: in "Documents and Settings\LocalService"

On Windows 7 and Vista: in the root directory of disk C

That means, if you use the EXE distribution to upgrade your current YouTrack installation, then:

Do not start YouTrack Service from the YouTrack Installation Wizard

When installation is finished, open c:\<YouTrack installation directory>\webapps\root\web-inf\web.xml file and specify a path to your existing database via database.location parameter.